NYPD'S TOP COP VISITS WOODHAVEN

This was a pretty exciting event.  Woodhaven residents' gathered Wednesday Evening for their monthly Town Hall which, by the way, will be held on Saturdays for the next 4 months (November 7th is our next Town Hall).  At our September Town Hall some folks suggested that we cancel October's meeting.  Why?  Because the 102nd Precinct Community Council's monthly meeting was moved to that same night to accommodate the busy schedule of their guest speaker, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

No one will show up, we were told, everyone will go to the meeting in Richmond Hill.  But we have too many issues to tackle to just cancel meetings, so we stuck to the plan.  However, we took a chance and went to the Commissioner's website and filled in the Contact Form, leaving the following message:

Next Wednesday (10/21), Commissioner Kelly will be visiting a meeting of the 102nd Precinct Community Council at 8 PM.  At the same time, just a few minutes away, the Woodhaven Resident Block Association is having their monthly Town Hall.  We understand that the Commissioner is extremely busy, but since he will be nearby, we hoped he could take just a few extra minutes to drop in to our meeting and address the residents of Woodhaven.  Our meeting is located at 78-15 Jamaica Avenue (at the Woodhaven Volunteer Ambulance Corp.)

The Commissioner's Office called us back and they were very nice.  And they told us that while they couldn't promise anything, that if he had time when he got out of the 102nd Precinct, the Commissioner would pay us a visit.  And so, it was around 9:40 PM Wednesday night, during the Town Hall meeting, that we got word that Commissioner Kelly was on his way.  And a few minutes later, there he was, entering the meeting! 

It was a real neat moment -- folks were real surprised to see him.  Here's the first video report -- and I'd like to direct you to the start of this recording, which is really cool.  WRBA Board Member Arlene Annunziata had been patiently waiting all evening to get in a plug for our Dinner Dance (which is on November 20th, by the way, call 718-296-3735 for tickets) and had just began when the Commissioner walked in.  I like the way this video came out -- the way you hear the sounds of Jamaica Avenue as he opens the front door, and the long walk down the hallway.  "Boy, you people work late!" he said when he got to the front of the room.  Here he is: 

And because it was late, he bypassed the usual speech and went right to the Q&A, and patiently (and graciously) stuck around for the next 40 minutes or so, speaking with the residents of Woodhaven.  And fittingly enough, Arlene got in the first question - and it's a funny moment.

For those of you who missed this event, we've brought you his entire appearance here on Project Woodhaven.  Here's what a cool event this was:  one guy came to our meeting and he had a problem that's been nagging him.  He lives near Equity Park (the park next to PS 60) and sometimes people hang out there and get a little rowdy.  He's called the police and listen in frustration to the police scanner as a car gets assigned and calls it back in as an "unfounded call" minutes later.  In other words, it sounds like the car assigned to the problem couldn't even be bothered to check it out.

His intent was to bring it to the attention of the Block Association.  Instead, he got the opportunity to tell it to the Top Cop in NYC and Commissioner Kelly asked to have his name and telephone number so his staff could follow up on it.  Now, how cool is that?  All the more reason why you should give our Town Halls a try -- you never know what you're gonna get!

In this clip, Commissioner Kelly is asked about funding and how much we're getting for counter-terrorism.  And he also addresses one resident who complains about lack of response from the 102nd Precinct -- his advice is to attend the 102nd Precinct Community Council meetings and bring your problems directly to the captain.  Or if you can't attend a meeting, call the captain, or pay him a visit -- he harkens back to his days as a precinct commander, and says that this line of communication was crucial to him.  Here's Part 2: 

Again, he was very patient and generous with his time.  Basically, if you had a question -- it got asked and answered.  You can't beat that!

In this next clip, he addresses a question from our new board member, Alex Blenkinsopp, regarding the accountability of a precinct captain.  And then he speaks a bit about our counter-terrorism efforts, specifically in relation to the recent arrest of a Queens resident (who worked right here in Woodhaven).  It's very interesting stuff.   

And as our time came to a close, we presented him with one of the WRBA's cool "Woodhaven 11421" T-Shirts.

Here is the last portion of his appearance in which he wraps up the story of the arrest of our local terrorist.

It was a fun evening - one of our better meetings.  Over the course of the last few months, we've started to work together as a group to discuss solutions instead of just problems.  And we did quite a bit of that at this meeting (and you'll see more of that in an upcoming report).  But this evening belonged to the Commissioner, and we are very happy that he chose to take time out of his busy schedule and spend some time with us.  

If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.  

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